


Puppets on Strings

by Mutant_Toad



Series: Sand Siblings [2]
Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Abduction, Alternative Lifestyles, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Multi, Other, Past Rape/Non-con, Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Puppets, Rape Recovery, References to Depression, Triad relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 07:05:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13184883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mutant_Toad/pseuds/Mutant_Toad
Summary: After traumatic experience with spider demons, Kankuro is having difficulties with life. He's never been one for a traditional relationship, but when an offer comes his way for something rather new; it might be just what he's always needed and what he needs to work through his stress.





	Puppets on Strings

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place after Chapter 18 of my story "Sand Child". That chapter describes specifically what happened to Kankuro and the spider demons.

The hand touched his shoulder and he jumped a little. His body jerking as his mind refocused on the world around him. He hadn’t been asleep, but his mind had just drifted off, taking him back to a place he hated. A place where his body had been violated and used. Kankuro couldn’t seem to make it stop some days. It had been a year since it happened and he still got cold sweats anytime he saw a spider that was larger than average.

His vision cleared and he saw the two women standing in front of him. Matsuri, his brother’s former student, and Sari. The two were both teachers at the Suna academy these days. Being the Kazekage’s first student meant that Matsuri was in high demand. Everyone wanted their child trained by her. Sari was no less a good teacher herself. They were both talented women and they were extremely loyal to Suna.

There was a time when Kankuro actually wondered if Gaara would take Matsuri for his wife. They two had become close very quickly and no one would fault him for becoming affectionate with her. It was easy to see that she was taken with his brother, but when Chikako was brought back, he realized that it was little more than a crush. Matsuri had been happy for her former teacher and his bride. She didn’t seem the least bit like a jealous woman.

Sari had always held a certain affection for the Kazekage as well, but much like Matsuri, seemed to have no issue with Gaara’s choice in wife. Though like everyone else, they were a little surprised at the suddenness of it all.

“Are you alright?” Sari asked as he climbed to his feet and rubbed his temple a little.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking.”

They both smiled at him before starting off together. They spent a lot of time together, he noticed. Despite being very close in age to both himself and his brother, they two had no husbands yet. It was a little odd to see two talented women not being courted. Then again, he knew little of their personal lives. For all he knew, they did have offers and just had high standards.

Stretching his arms above his head, he debated what to do with himself tonight. Lately, he just went home, holed up in his bedroom, and worked on his puppets. Gaara had Chikako now and no longer seemed to need him as much. Temari was living in Konoha and raising a family of her own. He’d never been one to really have ‘friends’ and his nephew was still too young to be close with. He was holding out hope that the boy had an interest in puppetry, but he doubted that would happen. Luckily, there was a young boy in the academy that seemed to be taking a shine to it. Still, the kid was too young to really take on as a student yet.

“Hey, Kankuro,” he had started to pick up his things when Matsuri called back out to him. Turning to see the two women not far from him, he gave them a questioning look, “Want to come get a drink and have dinner with us?”

The question caught him by surprise. When was the last time he had gone out to eat with anyone? He didn’t count the dinners he had at home with his brother and sister-in-law. Nor did he count the business dinners he was required to go along with as his title as Advisor and Guard to the Kazekage. Kankuro couldn’t remember. He knew that it was even longer than that since he’d been out with a woman. 

It wasn’t as if he were against the idea of marriage entirely, but it had never felt like something he should do. Despite Gaara’s apparent awkwardness with women, he had adamantly protested against the council when they suggested one of them start a family. It would have been easier for him to find a wife and save Gaara the pain of the set up dinners the council had planned. But he just couldn’t make himself do it. Kankuro had had his fair share of intimate situations in his life when it came to women. 

He was aware that Matsuri wasn’t asking him to go with them on a personal level. He was sure it was more likely that she had started to notice how he was distancing himself from people. It was hard not to. He was always worried that he might forget himself and say something he shouldn’t about Chikako. It was more than that though. He found himself nervous around other people anymore.

On the island, his brief interaction with the spider demon in the village had been damaging to his brain. He felt weak. Both Gaara and Chikako had told him that it wasn’t his fault. That woman had been a demon. She was different from the sort of things they were all used to dealing with. It was one thing to be under the influence of a genjutsu. They were trained to handle that. What Chikako’s kind did, it wasn’t a trick or even used chakra. It was magic. They were on a different level from the Tailed-Beasts. Not stronger than them, but different. They told him that it was natural for him to have fallen for her illusion.

Even with their words, he still felt weak about it. That creature had lured him to her bed and had sex with him. He felt dirty. As much as he hated knowing it, he knew a great deal about how limited Gaara and Chikako’s intimacy was. He sometimes wondered if what he did with that demon had somehow changed something in him. While never completely focused on sex, he had been a somewhat active man before then. He still had urges and such. But now...now it was just gone. Replaced with anxiety and even a bit of fear. What if there were more demons out there than people realized? More that could do things the way those ones and Chikako did. Ones that could appear and even pretend to be human. The Tailed-Beasts were what he always imagined a demon to be till going to that island.

“Thanks for the invite, but I...uh...I got some things to take care of tonight,” he lied.

“Okay. We’ll see you tomorrow,” they waved to him and he watched them start to walk off again. The puppetmaster was frustrated with himself. While his life wasn’t terrible, he still expected to be in a different place by this point in his life. No. That wasn’t true. He was fine with his place in life, but he expected to have a life. As it was, all he did was work. Even Gaara, before marriage, seemed to have more of a life than he did now. Gaara had friends. It was strange remembering their early teenage years. Never would he have thought that his brother would be where he was now.

“Dammit…” he grumbled to himself before jogging to catch up to the women, “You know what? Work will be there tomorrow. Let’s go eat. I’ll pay,” the women, while surprised, seemed happy and smiled. Kankuro knew he had to get out of the funk he was in. 

So he had been molested by a spider demon. Gaara had spent the better part of his life with a demon infesting his body. So he had been seduced by what he now realized was a giant spider. He’d survived a war. So she had attempted to use him as some sort of breeding tool and food. He was Kankuro. The best puppet master there was. He’d killed that monster and several other ones like it. He had survived so much in his life, he couldn’t sit around and continue to be the silent victim. While his promises to his brother and sister-in-law prevented him from telling people the truth, he could still talk to his brother about it and he could still continue to have a life. All stopping himself from doing it was hurting himself.

He was going to go out and have a good time with Sari and Matsuri.

The restaurant was a favorite of his when he used to go out more. It served the best hamburger steak. Even the cooks at the Kazekage household couldn’t make it as good as this place. Hamburger steak with prickly pear cactus salad. Much like the rest of his family, he had fairly simple tastes. None of them were raised with lavish wants or needs taught to them. They were all raised to be shinobi from a young age. It didn’t take much to win any of them over when it came to food.

Matsuri and Sari turned out to be rather nice company. The two women were a few years younger than himself and had turned into respectable women. Each was a master of their own craft and they seemed to have long got over their silly crushes on his brother. He knew both of them had students training under them at the Academy and worked hard in their duties towards Suna. Neither was an exotic or strange beauty like his sister and sister-in-law were considered, but they were attractive women.

“We’re glad you came out with us, Kankuro,” Matsuri said with a smile as she leaned out the room door to flag down the waitress, “Want some sake?”

“Why the hell not,” it wouldn’t be their first glass of the night. He was sure Gaara would be understanding if he had a hangover in the morning. It wasn’t like he didn’t put up with enough when it came to helping him deal with Chikako. How many excuses was it that he had come up with for reasons Gaara was late to a meeting when his demoness sister-in-law was having some kind of moment? Gaara owed him a hangover, “I’m glad I came out too. I needed it,” he admitted.

The waitress brought them their drinks and they all sat quiet for a moment, “We have to admit, we did invite you for more than just getting you out a little. I hate to say it, Kankuro, but people have noticed you being a little standoffish lately,” that didn’t surprise him to hear. He wondered what kind of rumors and gossip was going around, “So we did want you to come out to have a little fun, but we wanted to talk to you about something personal too.”

“Oh?” he perked an eyebrow a bit before sipping at his drink. It wasn’t like they had all been great friends, so he couldn’t imagine what it was they wanted to say to him.

“We would have gone to Gaara,” so few addressed him by name anymore, but Matsuri had been his student and it didn’t seem odd coming from her, “But...well...it really isn’t something for him to hear. Not yet at least. It kind of involves you,” which made him more curious.

Both the women went silent and nervously downed their drinks, “So….what is it? And why does it involve me?”

Sari took a deep breath before reaching over on the table to take Matsuri’s hand, “We’re in a relationship together.”

Kankuro looked at them curiously. He remembered the two teenage girls who fell over themselves to get the attention of Gaara and even Naruto once. The girls who had fawned over his brother. It wasn’t as if he was ignorant of same-sex relationships, but he wasn’t all that familiar with anyone that was of those sexualities. At least not to his knowledge. He didn’t disapprove of it, but he just couldn’t really imagine these two together. Though he did suppose they weren’t looking for his approval on it. It did seem a little odd that they were coming out to him, “That’s...nice. I mean, that’s great for you two. So long as you’re happy,” he knew that’s what really mattered. It was one of the few reasons he put up with Chikako as much as he did. She made Gaara happy. If these two made each other happy, he guessed that was the point of it, “What does this have to do with me? Want me to tell Gaara for you? I really don’t think that would be the best idea.”

“Oh no, we’re not ready to tell Gaara yet. Just you. Uh, Sari?” Matsuri handed the situation over to who he now knew was her lover.

“Right...well...we are happy. We really are, but we both feel that, well, there could be more.”

Kankuro felt he knew where this was going. He had no idea how long the two women had been together and he knew it was wrong to assume, but it was hard not to, “You want to get married?” he hadn’t considered if it was legal or not for same-sex couples to marry. He was sure given his own marriage, Gaara would hardly protest it. Actually, Gaara would likely be their biggest supporter.

Both women giggled a little, “We’re not quite ready for that. Maybe in the future.”

He was confused. He wasn’t sure how any of this involved him, “Still not getting my part in all of this.”

“Kankuro, we’re not lesbians,” Matsuri started, “What’s happened between us, it’s nice and we care about each other deeply. I can see myself spending my life with Sari,” the other woman nodded in agreement, “But we don’t feel like our relationship is complete. We feel like it’s missing something.”

If they weren’t lesbians, Kankuro was at a loss as to what they might consider themselves, “Still, uh, still not getting it.”

“We both respect you very much, Kankuro. You’re strong and talented and smart,” he wasn’t above taking praise, “And we both find you rather...attractive.”

That was surprising to hear. So they were attracted to each other, but still attracted to men. Matsuri had always seemed attracted to stronger types, so had Sari. It was somewhat flattering to hear they held some kind of attraction to him, “Okay…”

“Please don’t think we’re perverted or anything. This isn’t some sort of fantasy for us or anything, I promise. We’re not looking for…” Matsuri leaned in and whispered the next word, “...sex…”

“It’s more that we’re looking for a partner in our relationship. A dating thing.”

Kankuro couldn’t help the puzzled look on his face. The words made sense and they weren’t babbling. Yet he wasn’t sure he was completely understanding, “So...You date each other and I date both of you?”

“Exactly,” Matsuri smiled. Apparently he did understand, it just didn’t make sense, “And we both date you. It’s called a Triad,” the fact that they knew a name for it told him that this wasn’t something they had come up with on a whim, “It wouldn’t like normal courting or dating. With there being two of us, we wouldn’t expect you to shoulder any financial responsibility for dinners and such. Everything would be split three ways when we’re all together or in half for individual outings,” they seemed to have put a lot of thought into how this would work.

While it was strange, Kankuro felt a sense of flattery that they wanted him as part of whatever it was they had, “I, uh...I’m not really sure what to say.”

“We understand. We expected as much. Please, take all the time you want to think about it. We won’t be upset if you decline. It really is a lot to ask of someone. Though we do ask for you to take our privacy into consideration should you decline.”

“Oh, of course. No question about that,” one more relationship for him to keep a secret about. Though he imagined this one would be easier to manage with. He didn’t field nearly as many questions about Matsuri or Sari as he did his brother, “But yes, I do think I need some time to think about this.”

“Yes. As Matsuri said, take all the time you need. We really do care about each other a lot, but we both feel that we have more love to offer. If you do accept, please do it sincerely. Not just to ‘be with two women’,” it was a little sad that they were concerned about that, not that it was unfounded. Kankuro could imagine some men accepting simply for that. Using the two women’s feelings against them. He wondered how long they had been considering this and how long it was him on their list to ask.

Downing the rest of his saki, he nodded a little, “I wouldn’t do that. You have my word. I will, uh, I will let you know as soon as possible.”

“Thank you for being so understanding and taking this into consideration,” Matsuri reached across the table and touched his hand for a moment before the two women stood to take their leave, “We’ll see you at the academy in the morning?”

“Huh?” he was starting to get lost in his own mind, “Oh, yes. I’ll be there as usual. I’ll see you both then,” he nodded lightly.

“We’ll pay for ours on the way out. See you then,” Sari smiled.

“What? No. I said I would pay…” it wasn’t as if he couldn’t afford it.

They both shook their head, “We pay for and take care of ourselves, Kankuro,” there was something nice about hearing that.

“Good night,” they said in unison.

With that, they left the puppetmaster in the private dining room to consider their offer and his feelings.


End file.
